Author: Karakhanian Suren

UEFA.com
April 29 2005
Football Europe: Pyunik resume control

FC Pyunik’s quest for a fifth straight Armenian Premier League title
got off to the best possible start – but their Armenian Cup dream
ended at the quarter-final stage.
Champions soar
Pyunik top the table after two wins from two matches, thanks in part
to forward Edgar Manucharyan, who joins AFC Ajax on 1 July on a
three-year contract. The 18-year-old was on target in the 3-0 victory
at FC Ararat Yerevan II which followed a 1-0 opening-day triumph at
home to FC MIKA.
Cup drama
However, Pyunik did not have the same success in the Armenian Cup,
losing 1-0 on aggregate to FC Kilikia, courtesy of a Sargis Movsisian
goal. Samvel Darbinyan’s team of homegrown youngsters are in good
form and won the first leg of their semi-final with FC Banants.
Kilikia are also third in the league after a 5-0 win against Ararat
and 2-2 draw at FC Kotayk.
Supporter unrest
Banants, by contrast, have eight foreigners in their squad, but
despite taking maximum points from their opening two games to join
Pyunik at the top, fans have been unhappy with the number of goals
scored after a 1-0 victory against Kotayk and 3-2 triumph at
newly-promoted FC Lernayin Artsakh.
Debut goal
Lernayin have started their first top-flight season well, sitting
fourth with three points after defeating FC Shirak 4-1. They are
level on points with MIKA, who reinforced in pre-season by recruiting
striker Sergiy Shevchenko from FC Avangard Kursk. Shevchenko marked
his debut with a goal in a 2-1 success against FC Dinamo-Zenit
Yerevan.
Big losses
At the bottom, three sides are still to get off the mark, though
Dinamo-Zenit and last year’s bottom club Shirak have played just
once. More worringly, Ararat are pointless after two matches,
conceding eight goals in the process, and have not been helped by the
loss of key players to Lernayin.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Pan Armenian News
GERMAN MEDIA: TURKEY FEARS ARMENIAN ISSUE TO PUT OBSTACLES IN WAY TO EU
29.04.2005 04:10
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ `A chance to normalize the Turkish-Armenian relations was
missed again’, OÖN/Nachrichten online newspaper reported. Despite the fact
that the 90-th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Turkey was an
occasion to normalize the Armenian-Turkish relations, the reconciliation
failed. Turkey offered Armenia to form a joint historic commission, however
Armenian President Robert Kocharian proposed to normalize relations first,
what was rejected by Recep Tayyip Erdogan. At the same time the
international community exerts pressure upon Turkey urging it to acknowledge
the Armenian Genocide. Turkey’s position on the Armenian Genocide
complicates relations with Armenia. Turkish Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc
rejected to meet with Polish parliamentarians in protest to the adoption of
the resolution on the Armenian Genocide by the Polish Sejm. In his turn
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul stated that the Bundestag debates on
the Armenian Genocide `will cloud the German-Turkish relations’. Despite
this Turkey still fears that the Armenian issue will negatively tell on
Turkey’s EU membership negotiations. Moreover, France requested the EU `to
urge its aspirant to give a fresh estimate to the past’. Presently about 450
000 Armenians including famous singer Charles Aznavour live in France. In
his interview with Die Ziet the 80-year-old singer noted that he has been
dreaming about the reconciliation of Armenia and Turkey for a long time.
`The longer Turkey retracts the Genocide recognition the longer the past
will pursue it’, Charles Aznavour said.

Pan Armenian News
MG PREPARING NO REVOLUTIONARY IDEAS ON KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT
27.04.2005 08:15
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs do not prepare any
revolutionary ideas on the Karabakh conflict settlement, Interfax reported.
`I would not like to break the confidentiality of the negotiation process. I
can only say that the elements discussed by the OSCE MG Co-Chairs contain no
surprises’, OSCE MG US Co-Chair Steven Mann stated. He informed that April
27 in Frankfurt the Co-Chairs will discuss the Nagorno Karabakh conflict
settlement with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov.

Agence France Presse — English
April 27, 2005 Wednesday 12:22 PM GMT
Turkey parliament calls off meetings with Poland after genocide
resolution
ANKARA
The Turkish parliament has unilaterally called off a series of
meetings with lawmakers from the Polish parliament next month in
protest at the latter’s acknowledgement as genocide of the kilings of
Armenians during World War I, a Turkish source said Wednesday.
Turkish parliament speaker Bulent Arinc also sent a letter to his
Polish counterpart Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz on Wednesday to denounce
the resolution adopted on April 19, which condemned the Armenian
genocide between 1915 and 1917.
“We learned with great regret and disappointment of the (Polish)
resolution,” Arinc said in his letter.
“The resolution has outraged members of the Turkish parliament. The
Turkish people are deeply saddened by a friendly country unilaterally
interpreting tragic incidents affecting both peoples,” he added.
The cancelled events were a meeting in Ankara of the friendship
comittees of both parliaments, a visit to Turkey by the president of
the Polish parliament’s foreign affairs committee and a visit to
Warsaw by a Turkish parliamentary delegation.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kinsmen died in orchestrated
killings during the final years of the Ottoman Empire.
Turkey categorically denies genocide claims and argues that 300,000
Armenians and at least as many Turks were killed in civil strife
during World War I when the Armenians, backed by Russia, rose against
their Ottoman rulers.

Turkish Press
April 27 2005
Press Review:
Aksam
ARMENIAN PRESIDENT: `WE AGAIN PROPOSE ESTABLISHING NORMAL RELATIONS
WITHOUT PRECONDITIONS’
Armenian President Robert Kocharian yesterday answered a recent
letter from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan proposing formation
of a joint Turkish-Armenian group to study the so-called Armenian
genocide allegations. In his letter, Kocharian said, as neighbors,
Turkey and Armenia should try to find ways to live peacefully both
today and in the future, adding that for these reasons, Armenia was
proposing the establishment of normal relations, opening the borders
and starting a dialogue between the two countries. `There are
neighboring states ` specifically in the European continent `
whose past was difficult and whose views were at odds,’ he said.
`However, this did not prevent them from opening their borders,
having diplomatic relations, sending representatives to each
other’s capitals, and at the same time discussing disputed
issues.’ Kocharian added that the proposal would not work if it
does not deal with both the present and the future, adding that for
an efficient dialogue, there was a need to foster a favorable
political atmosphere. `Thus, we have proposed and we again propose
establishment of normal relations between our countries without
preconditions,’ he said. `Within that context an
intergovernmental commission may be formed to discuss any issue or
issues existing between our countries with the aim of solving them
and coming to a mutual understanding.’ /Aksam/

Zaman, Turkey
April 27 2005
Gul: Do you Hear our Call regarding Cyprus?
Within the framework of the 44th session of the Partnership Council,
the toplevel decision body between Turkey and the European Union
(EU), Turkey conveyed all its grievences to Brussels yesterday.
Turkey replied to the 26-page EU common policy draft of expectations
from Turkey with an 18-page report. Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah
Gul expressed reproaches to the Union regarding the issues such as
the solution call made only to the Turkish side in regard to the
Cyprus issue, unilateral accusation of Turkey regarding the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)-EU cooperation, calls on the
supplementary-protocol, and permanent restrictions. Despite the
attempts of the French, the so-called Armenian “genocide” allegations
were not brought to the agenda of the meeting held at the EU term
president Luxembourg.
Following the Council meeting, Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean
Asselborn, Gul and the EU Commissioner for Enlargement Olli Rehn
confirmed the start of membership negotiations between the Union and
Turkey on October 3 as planned; however, it was pointed out that
problems regarding Cyprus still exist. Gul asked his counterparts and
other EU officials during the meeting: “Don’t you hear our calls
regarding Cyprus? Don’t Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s and my
calls reach you? Are there any problems? Some demands made by you
hurt us. We ask you not to do that again, please.”
Expressing his grievances to his addressees as “You enclosed the
problem despite Turkey’s objections,” Gul said: “I told them ‘ask the
Greek Cypriots whether they came here to create problems. Greek
Cypriots’ among you does not give you the right to do the wrong
thing. Ask them about these things by thinking about the greater EU
interests.'” Emphasizing that fait accompli cannot be allowed for
only one side that had entered the EU, Gul added: “The EU tried hard
to achieve a solution; however, its efforts were obstructed on the
island.” On the other hand, Asselborn only noted that Brussels should
do whatever was possible to get approval for the two EU laws that
would remove the isolation over the Turkish Republic of Northern
Cyprus (TRNC).
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

A1plus
| 13:06:23 | 25-04-2005 | Social |
EACH WILL HAVE A SEPARATE ROUTE
Tigran Ghazaryan, head of the Yerevan municipality transport administration,
claims that the Kievyan bridge reconstruction will not hinder the work of
the route taxis. At present 26 routes pass by Kievyan, 24 of which are route
taxis, and 2 are buses.
For more than 2 months the main part of the transport will pass by the
Davtashen bridge. The Tsitsernakaberd highway is the second by its business,
as 11 routes will pass by it. The Orbely street will have only 2 routes.

ARFD ON PRES.BUSH STANCE ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
YEREVAN, APRIL 25. ARMINFO. Since his election US President George
Bush has avoided appropriately qualifying the Armenian Genocide, says
the Supreme Body of ARFD.
In his annual Apr 24 statement Bush refrained from qualifying the
events of early XX as “genocide” thereby ignoring relevant appeal by
178 congressmen and 32 senators. Appreciating Bush’s commitment to
join the world Armenians by his statement ARFD at the same time is
concerned over his evading clear definitions and thereby devaluating
the moral, historical and legal consequences of the Armenian
Genocide, says the director of the Washington office of Hay Dat Aram
Hambaryan.
Hat Dat is concerned that the White House policy of the Armenian
Genocide non recognition is part of its wider policy on the issue of
genocide as such – this being proved by Washington’s inactivity to
prerevent the genocide in Darfur, Sudan. And so Hay Dat is
cooperating with many NGOs for Washington to timely and effective
react to the Darfut conflict.
ARFD reminds that while meeting with the Armenian community of
Michigan in Feb 2000 presidential candidate Bush promised to call the
early XX events genocide but as president has failed to keep his
promise and keeps opposing any legislative initiatives to condemn
this crime against humanity.

Armenpress
AZERBAIJAN WANTS HOMICIDE OFFICER TO SERVE PRISON TERM AT HOME
BAKU, APRIL 25, ARMENPRESS: Azerbaijani justice ministry said last week
it will negotiate with Hungarian authorities to have Ramil Safarov, an
Azerbaijani officer, who had hacked to death his Armenian counterpart Gurgen
Margarian on February 19, 2004, sent to Azerbaijan to serve his prison term
after the Hungarian court issues its verdict.
Both were participants of an English language training course within the
framework of the NATO-sponsored “Partnership for Peace” program held in
Budapest, Hungary. The murder occurred at 5 o’clock in the morning, while
the victim was asleep.
The trial of Safarov is set to resume on May 10.
Zaver Gafarov, head of an Azerbaijani justice ministry department, said
the ministry will base its petition on the European Convention on
Extradition of Convicts, which Baku had joined several years ago.

Zaman, Turkey
April 24 2005
Celebrating the Turkish National Festival, Armenian Students did not
Join Genocide Demonstration
Published: Sunday 24, 2005
zaman.com
Armenian students who partook in the April 23rd Turkish National
Sovereignty and Children’s festival did not participate in the
so-called genocide demonstration for the first time in front of
Turkish Embassy. The officials of the Armenian school said: “We need
to put politics aside and live in peace.”
At a time when pressures about the Armenian genocide allegation are
increasing on Turkey, the Armenian school gave a message of peace by
attending Turkey’s April 23rd celebrations. It has been reported that
the directors of the Armenian school, who attended the April 23rd
celebrations with their students, said: “We will not go to in front
of the Turkish Embassy to protest.” Meanwhile, Turkey’s Ambassador to
Moscow, Kurtulus Taskent, attended the opening ceremony of a science
fair, which was held ahead of the April 23rd program in the Capital
Teachers’ Guesthouse. Children’s works, which won the April 23rd
painting contest, were on the exhibition.
Russian-Turkish schools have been supported by Turkish entrepreneurs’
Tolerance Education Foundation and Saglasya Education Organization,
and Armenian students performed their traditional folk dances in the
children’s celebration festival. Armenian students shared their
excitement about presenting their folklore in a Turkish school
program. The children noted that except for an Azeri, and Iranian and
a few Russians, all the students are Armenians and took photos with
Turkish businessmen before the program. According to information
given, teachers of 56 numbered Russian-Turkish school were served
Turkish coffee on their visit to the Armenia school.